We are pleased to announce and welcome to SPE the following new student chapters. These new student chapters were just approved at the 2012 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE). Congratulations!

Alex is a graduate of the Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico. While attending high school, Alex was selected to attend the Nation Youth Leadership Forum on National Security in Washington, D.C, where he explored American diplomacy, intelligence and defense.

Alex’s outstanding achievements and accomplishments include (but not limited to):

National Hispanic Scholar

AP Scholar

Member of the Science Olympiad Team

Albuquerque Academy Varsity Football Team

2011/2012 All Academic Football Team

Varsity Wrestling Team

Varsity Track Team

2012 Teen Winner of the NPC Body Building Championship

Alex, is currently a freshman at the Colorado School of Mines pursuing a degree in petroleum engineering. Congratulations again, Alexander!

Katrina graduated from Katy High School in Katy, TX where she was the Valedictorian of her class, graduating first out of 592 students. She is attending Texas A&M University where she is enrolled in the Honors Program. She is majoring in petroleum engineering with a minor in Spanish.

Katrina intends to be just as involved in the community at Texas A&M as she was in high school. She enjoys taking fitness classes, being involved in organizations, practicing Spanish, traveling and meeting people. Congratulations again, Katrina!

A new DL season (2012-13) begins in September. The evaluation process has been simplified, and you will now be able to complete and submit DL’s evaluations online, utilize the QR code on an evaluation, or email in your evaluations.

To ensure that your section is entered into and wins the 2012-13 Evaluation Contest, please:

Attend all section meetings featuring Distinguished Lecturers.

Listen, engage and evaluate the DL’s presentation.

Fill out and submit the Section Attendees’ Tour Evaluation form for every DL visit.

The President’s Award for Section Excellence recognizes SPE sections who display exemplary efforts in technology dissemination, section operations, member benefits, society and community benefits and innovation. The awards are presented to an officer of each section during the President’s Luncheon at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.

Mojtaba received his BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering, and he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in petroleum engineering. He earned the 1st rank in both undergraduate and graduate studies in 2008 and 2010 among all the students. Mojtaba also ranked 1st in the University National Entrance Examination of Graduate Program. He has more than twenty publications in different journals and conferences related to petroleum engineering. Mojtaba is currently conducting research on the prediction of reservoir stress path under supervision of Dr. Miska and Dr. Yu at the University of Tulsa Drilling Research Projects (TUDRP).

SPE Mehran Student Chapter arranged field trips for the final-year students. While visiting the Sawan gas field, the students were briefed about the gas-processing plant there, including its working capacity and criteria. Mr. Gul Hassan Dars briefed students about the history of the field.

Twenty five final-year students also visited the Kadanwaari Gas field. Students visited the sampling laboratory, central control room (CCR) and processing plant. Technical personnel at the field told the students about the plant operation, gas composition and equipment used at the field.

Mr. Nisar Shaikh of New Horizon Exploration and Production Limited donated several technical videos and presentations to SPE Mehran. Student chapter thank the NHEPL for the generous donation.

The Middle East Technical University-Cyprus (NCC) and the Middle East Technical University-Ankara student chapter members visited the only underground gas storage facility set up by TPAO in Turkey. The trip was invaluable for teaching the students about production, storage, filtration, usage and the future of the industry in Turkey. Members also benefited by bonding with another university chapter that has a similar focus.

On May 6, over 50 attendees watched “live” drilling operations at Turkyurdu in Northern Cyprus.

Wearing their chapter’s newly designed T-shirts, the students celebrated the arrival of a sucker rod pump on campus at the university in Northern Cyprus as over a 100 people participated in the celebration. They are the only university in Cyprus to have installed such equipment on campus. The pump was donated by Turkish Petroleum Cooperation, TPAO.

From March 16 to April 5, the Suez Canal University chapter was busy publishing the 4th issue of their magazine ECHO. This issue was launched in the Egypt Section monthly meeting and later distributed to major petroleum companies and campuses. This issue featured several technical and non-technical articles, research papers and news.